Page 77 of Searching for Hope

A phone rings downstairs. Everyone’s eyes glance to the door, but no one moves to answer it.

“Call the police,” Keating says through gritted teeth. His gaze darts between Barrett and Jericho who now both have their hands raised in surrender. Dominic cowers behind his mother, his eyes wild and filled with tears. No one is paying any attention to me.

“Tell her,” Jericho growls. “Tell her how you bought Hope as though she’s nothing more than property. Tell her!”

Mary turns wide-eyed to her husband. “You told me she was dead. You told me she and the little girl were…” she chokes on the words and breaks down into tears again.

I start to inch toward the bathroom door. Dominic keeps glancing at it as though he’s got something to hide.

“Dominic,” Keating says without looking back at his son. “Take your mother away and call the police.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dominic says quietly.

“For once in your life, do something useful and call the fucking police!” Keating roars. He turns back to Jericho. “I’m telling you. You’ve got it all wrong. She’s not here. I don’t have her. I haven’t seen her since she went missing.” No one moves. We all just stand there frozen, eyes darting between each other.

“What are you waiting for?” Keating yells. “Call the fucking police!”

Dominic shakes his head, walking backward. “I did it for you,” he pleads with his father.

“Stop talking nonsense and call the police!” Keating shrieks.

“You’re not listening to me!” Dominic yells. “You never listen!”

I move closer to the bathroom door. Light creeps through the slits but I can’t make out any shadows.

“All I wanted was to make you proud,” Dominic sobs.

“It was you,” Jericho hisses. “You’re the one who took her, not your father.”

“What’s he talking about Dommie?” his mother asks.

“I did it for you, Mother,” he says, turning to her and grabbing her hands. “If it wasn’t for her, you wouldn’t…” his voice trails off and he reaches out to cup his mother’s face. “She destroyed our family. She took everything away from us. He thought she was dead and when uncle told me she wasn’t, I just wanted to make things better.”

“My god.” Mary reels away from her son. “What have you done?”

With everyone distracted by Dominic’s confession, I race over to the bathroom door and fling it open. A woman is sitting naked in the bath, a gag wrapped over her mouth, her hands cuffed to the faucets, and a trickle of blood on her head. Tears stream down her face and she looks at me with a mixture of utter desperation and relief.

“Hope?” I say, holding my breath.

With a choked sob, she nods.

I’m shoved to the side as Jericho pushes past me. “Hope?” He falls to his knees, reaching over the edge of the bath to embrace her.

“Jericho?” she sobs once he pulls away the gag. “Jericho, is that really you?” She breaks down as he wraps his arms around her shoulders. Her body convulses and shakes, racked with sobs.

I’m still standing in the doorway. Barrett moves quickly and disarms Keating during the shock of it all. He trains the rifle on him, warning him not to move.

Tears fall down Mary’s face. “Where’s the girl?” she asks repeatedly. “Where’s the girl?”

I look for Dominic, but in the chaos, he’s gone.

“Get me something to break the cuffs,” Jericho barks. He pushes Hope’s hair back from her face, pressing kisses to her forehead as she cries. “It’s okay,” he soothes. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Everything is going to be okay now.”

“Odette?” The word is wrenched from Hope’s mouth as a choked sob.

“She’s at home and she’s fine,” he assures her.

I desperately look around the room, trying to find something to break her free.

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